by Kevin Manahan, USA TODAY Sports

by Kevin Manahan, USA TODAY Sports

NEW ORLEANS - Randy Moss says he is going to write a book. He doesn't have a working title yet, and he'll probably be upset when he discovers The Greatest has been taken. But that's OK, because - if he's going to play another season - he has plenty of time to come up with something clever.

Moss, 35, decided to become an author after a miserable 2010 season, when he was traded from the New England Patriots to the Minnesota Vikings, released by the Vikes, then claimed on waivers by the Tennessee Titans, who didn't use him much.

Moss set career-lows in receptions (28) and receiving yards (393). With no team to call home, he announced his retirement prior to the 2011 season and began mulling an autobiography.

But before he could scribble down his thoughts, he launched a comeback and signed with the San Francisco 49ers last March. He wanted that one last chapter, because, after all, a story that ends with a Super Bowl ring is a better seller than the story of an aging athlete who flames out.

To get the ending, however, he had to overcome all of the whispers from NFL execs, he said.

"After Tennesee, that's the way I didn't want to go out," Moss said Wednesday. "I just wanted to come back and make plays. There are 32 teams in the NFL, so I didn't worry about getting a job. But are you black-balling me because you don't like me, or black-balling me because I can't play? Figure out the two.

"(In Tennessee), there was some animosity. You could really feel the tension in the air in the meeting rooms. I'll put it in ink one day and you can read the book."

Moss will also make the argument that he's the best receiver in NFL history - a perspective not held by everyone, especially Jerry Rice, who has better statistics and rings (three for Rice, none for Moss). Moss wrote headlines when he made the claim Tuesday.

"Everybody will have their opinion," Moss said, "I don't really do numbers. Who's the greatest running back? Statistically, it's Emmitt Smith. But other people think Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, Jim Brown. Their numbers don't match Emmitt Smith's. You make your own judgment, but I have my opinion.

"Once everything settles down, once it slows down, I think I will write a book. A lot of you guys at the table, I've never seen you before, and you don't know me. You just know what you read. But to know me and know where I come from, you'd need to read the book.

"I'm not trying to write a book that's going to be disrespectful or anything like that. But when you go to Starbucks or to a park and you see people reading, I'd like people to sit down and read my book and enjoy it and get to know me better. I've been through a lot, and I've put a lot of heart and soul and dedication into this game."

Today's Moss, though, is different than yesterday's. Which one will the book portray?

"I've never forgotten who I was," Moss said. "People see the dedication and effort and think it's cockiness. But to be double-, triple-covered, sometimes quadruple-covered, I don't think people outside of football know what that's like. There are receivers that get single-covered, some get doubled, but few get triple or quadrupled.

"Put two or three guys on me, that shortens the playing field a little bit. It took me a while to understand that because I always wanted to make plays. But now I understand."

The purpose of the book, then, will be to convince people that he's not all bad, no matter how much they've read about the me-first teammate, the locker-room troublemaker, the mooning wide receiver who has worn out his welcome in more cities than just about any other player in NFL history - but the same guy who one day is surely headed to the Hall of Fame.

Moss already has worked his public-relations magic on his Niners teammates, who love him.

"They had their perception of me, good or bad. But I wanted to let them know, I'm all the way in," he said. "I told Coach Harbaugh at the OTAs and minicamps that I wanted to make the team and then make the plays. The plays haven't really been there, but everything else has."

How different is the new Moss? He actually lets the younger guys tease him, something that wouldn't have been tolerated in his prima donna days.

"There are days I've come achy and sore and then get the jokes from (Michael) Crabtree, (Carlos) Rogers, Aldon Smith," Moss said. "It motivated me. They joke about my age. It's like a lawnmower. You know how you have to pull the string a few times to get your lawnmower started up?